Creating Parts with costs that change with dimension change for BOM

[Anonymous]

How do I create an Inventor part with a cost that will update according to the part dimensions changing. For example, we design products using aluminum extrusions and our cost is determined by foot length. How can I create the extrusion part to have a per foot cost that will dynamically update when I change the parts length for an assembly? Is this possible? It seems to me to be a fundamental need for many industries.

I will happily take any links to information that will explain this process. I cannot find anything in Inventor help or online that clearly explains the process of creating parts with costs and variables.

Thanks inadvance for any help on this subject.

[cwhetten]

You can create a parameter for the cost per unit length.  Then create a parameter for the total cost that is controlled by a formula (part length X cost per unit length).  If you need this value to show up in an iProperty, just create a formula in the iProperty utilizing the total cost parameter.  The total cost parameter will need to be exported before you can create an iProperty formula.  See the attached image where I have created these parameters and the iProperty formula.

Unfortunately, the actual iProperty for Estimated Cost will not accept a formula, so I created a custom iProperty called ActualCost instead.  You could create your own custom iProperty or use another existing iProperty that WILL accept a formula.

I also attached the part itself that I used to create this example.  It is 2011 format.